disputatio

Forms

disputātiō f (genitive disputātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin disputō + -tiō, from the verb “to argue, debate”,^[2][3] a compound of dis- and putō (“to prune, reckon”).^[4] De Vaan notes that ⟨putō⟩ first meant to prune a tree, then to ponder or reckon, and derives it from ⟨putus⟩ “clean”, from Proto-Italic *puto- (“cut off, clean”) and Proto-Indo-European *pHu-tó-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[3] who speaks of the written disputations of Protagoras on great subjects.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a discussion, argument or dispute, a dissertation in the form of a debate, as the five days of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, and the discussion of a subject, as Vitruvius' discussion that astrologers share with musicians.^[2][5] Columella has it once in the older sense of computing or calculating.^[5]

Church Latin glosses it “argumentation, dispute, debate”.^[6] In medieval Latin it is the formal disputation of the schools.^[7][1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Protagoras' disputations and of the Tusculan Disputations.^[2][3]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of a shared discussion.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – Columella of calculating.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A discussion, argument, debate, dispute.^[2][5][1][6]
2. A treatise in the form of a debate.^[2]
3. Calculating, computing.^[5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A disputation.^[7][1]

Word family

• disputātiuncula

Related words

• disputō
• putō
• disceptātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill